Buddy Diving done well

[And]

Hi

I coined this phrase in the DIR opinion thread and Janos asked me what the difference is between general buddy diving and buddy diving done well. I thought it was worth a seperate thread, so forgive this little lecture;

Well, to me buddy diving can refer to all sorts of things. It can be a kind of loose reference to diving together in a pair or in a three, you know, when you are on that guided dive in the Red Sea and you have just been paired with someone you don't know, have no idea what qualifications or experience they have, and other than a quick buddy check, the extent of the buddy diving is that you may (or may not) keep an eye on each other during the dive. The guide really decides what the max depth will be, and basically when you reach 50 bar, you surface, unless the guide tells everyone to surface. There is very little discussion or planning needed between buddies, and this is due, in part, to the fact that really you are diving in very controlled conditions, as the guide is taking much of the responsibility (within the limits of the disclaimer of course )?

There is also the buddy diving you tend to do with your club mates, on recreational type dives, which is kind of the same, except there is no guide. You need to make some decisions with regard to the dive time and depth etc, and plan the dive. To help divers do this the agencies come up with acronyms to use as models in dive planning. I think that these help the process, and it is usually a sign of bad buddying when no framework is applied.

Within BSAC this revolves around SEEDS (Signals, Equipment, Exercise, Discipline, and Safety, not necessarily in that particular order). SEEDS is a pretty good, and works best on recreational type dives (the vast majority of dives conducted within the BSAC membership) and although many buddy pairs probably skip most of it, there is an emphasis on planning and executing a successful and pleasurable dive. Most of the time whatever tasks need doing you do them seperately, such as running your own deco or computer, shooting your own bag etc. but that is not always the case and particularly with deploying SMB's many buddy pairs do this as a joint effort.

Within DIR, there used to be what we called SADDDDD (Sequence, Air, Depth, Deco, Duration, Direction, Distance) and in addition there is an equipment check and a few drills such as a modified S Drill (ensure the long hose is free) and a flow check (all valves are in proper state). This I find to be a little more detailed than the BSAC method and the idea of Sequence specifically addresses how the buddies will work together and complete all the tasks required during the dive. It also provides a framework for cave diving and deeper ocean dives. It has changed recently to GUEEDGE (I pronounce it gweedge) and I have no idea what it all means although U is Unified Team, which was enough to put me off SADDDDD is kind of cool because I do feel we are being a bit anal and sad, and its a way of laughing at ourselves. I believe in the process fully though, and pretty much every incident I hear about or read about, I believe can be traced back to a missing detail in the plan or no real plan at all, or poor decisions made at the planning stage.

Now, I have seen some really good divers on boats who dive as a buddy pair and could well be DIR all except the bungeed wings and split fins and so I do not think that buddy diving well is only possible by DIR divers. I have seen some average ones and some terrible ones too, but that is just diving. What is apparent is that there is no real way of telling how good or bad a buddy will be until they are planning the dive and/or in the water with you.

Within the DIR framework I believe that the dive planning goes into a little (some would say a lot) more detail and of course, as the other DIR divers are all committed to working within the same framework, there is more consistency of quality of buddy (You can still get bad buddies, but less often). The stuff about skills such as bouyancy control and equipment management is really the essence of becoming a good buddy. If you don't need to spend as much time sorting out your own shit, you can spend time keeping an eye on your buddies, such as checking whether their kit is OK, backup lights on, or whatever. Most of the separation stories you read will probably involve one diver having a problem and the other diver not noticing, or one diver focussed on something like getting down the shot, too the wreck etc. and the other diver can't keep up.

The GUE courses supplement the DIR framework by helping divers improve these skills and it isn't a simple process to develop some of these bouyancy skills and drills overnight. It really is down to time in the water, and then we move on to quarry dives. The quarry dives are useful in building those skills, as you don't really want to work on your back kick whilst on a drift dive in the Farnes for example. As with any sport, there are far more training days than there are game days, and this is why you may see DIR divers in quarries often, although many will (conveniently) forget that a DIR diver may conduct as many 'proper' dives as you in a year, there is the addition of a whole load of training dives too. I don't think this matters, but it does to some, particularly on the internet. It does make it more likely that a DIR diver will be a better buddy though.

As I said before, I do not think that any of this is impossible for non DIR divers, and that is why I refer to it as 'buddy diving done well', and not a 'unified team', but maybe thats semantics and really they are all the same thing, although I would not share a room, bed or shower, to get to know a buddy (unless that buddy was Jessica Alba of course )

What would you say is 'buddy diving done well'?

Andy

[MATTBIN]

Originally Posted by And

It does make it more likely that a DIR diver will be a better buddy though.

Andy

That should get the cat amongst the pigeons.

Difficult one to answer really as none of my buddies are DIR. The non DIR ones I dive with seem pretty ok to me, so far the number of entries has equalled the number of exits.

Matt

[purple vonny]

well, I've just had a buddy-less summer due to being a guide but I was fairly strict about pairs sticking together. Generally, and this is a gross generalization, I did not see more than a hand full of good buddy pairs amongst "holiday divers". By that I mean they did not monitor each other's air and swam too far apart to help if there was a crisis. It was like herding cats. And sometimes quite scarey.

My idea of an ideal buddy is someone I know, someone who I have dived with several times and like and trust and someone who is a fish hugger and, preferably , a photographer, who uses air at approximately the same rate as me!

But I also enjoy buddying new divers - it brings out my mothering instincts and I love the enthusiasm.

Perhaps not the most technical or imaginative reply but there you go, it takes all sorts eh?

[Janos]

Your post above is excellent. And I agree with a lot of it. However it mainly concentrates on the planning stage before the dive (which I agree is important) not on the underwater bit.

Underwater, I think that too many people view buddying as being there for your buddy in case they have a problem. I think good buddying should be more than that. It should be about helping prevent problems before they happen.

I hate the word, but I can't avoid it: It's about being "Proactive".

Other agencies do talk about this (cf the BSAC Incident Pit) but I don't think other agencies put quite the same emphasis on it as GUE do.

Although that could be my misunderstanding.

Janos

[Bardo]

Originally Posted by And

Within DIR, there used to be what we called SADDDDD (Sequence, Air, Depth, Deco, Duration, Direction, Distance) and in addition there is an equipment check and a few drills such as a modified S Drill (ensure the long hose is free) and a flow check (all valves are in proper state). This I find to be a little more detailed than the BSAC method and the idea of Sequence specifically addresses how the buddies will work together and complete all the tasks required during the dive. It also provides a framework for cave diving and deeper ocean dives. It has changed recently to GUEEDGE (I pronounce it gweedge) and I have no idea what it all means although U is Unified Team, which was enough to put me off SADDDDD is kind of cool because I do feel we are being a bit anal and sad, and its a way of laughing at ourselves. I believe in the process fully though, and pretty much every incident I hear about or read about, I believe can be traced back to a missing detail in the plan or no real plan at all, or poor decisions made at the planning stage.

Yeah, the cheesy name of 'GUE EDGE' kinda made me feel a bit like chundering too but here's the official description for anyone who's remotely interested...

New dive planning tool - GUE EDGE
GUE is unsatisfied with the previous dive planning tool know as SADDDDD. Divers are rarely able to use this tool effectively given the confusing relation of similar words. Going forward GUE will use the acronym GUE EDGE to facilitate dive planning. GUE Edge is as follows:

G – Goal- Dive objectives
U - Unified team- team strategies
E - Equipment match
E – Exposure- Depth/Time
D - Decompression strategies
G - Gas strategies
E - Environmental issues

Taken from http://www.gue.com/Training/Procedur...006changes.pdf

BTW - Great post, And!

[neilh]

Originally Posted by Janos

Underwater, I think that too many people view buddying as being there for your buddy in case they have a problem. I think good buddying should be more than that. It should be about helping prevent problems before they happen.

I hate the word, but I can't avoid it: It's about being "Proactive".

I agree Janos. There are things like bubble checks (at the start and during a dive) to pick up on leaky kit or loose regs, things hanging out of pockets, things trapped or snagged, etc. It's about watching your buddy as they send up an SMB in case anything goes wrong, being ready for an OOA if they're removing their reg, watching them through a gas switch, etc, etc.

For me it's all about awareness above and below the water of yourself, your surroundings, your buddies - and others. You might spot a problem with another diver for instance.

[tom]

Originally Posted by neilh

For me it's all about awareness above and below the water of yourself, your surroundings, your buddies - and others. You might spot a problem with another diver for instance.

This is an issue I see with some (not all, and not all of the time) of the people I dive with and around: situational awareness can be somewhat erratic, and communication could often be improved. I'm sure I'm as guilty of failings on this front as anyone else, it's easy to get distracted when there are things to look at / photograph / salvage / kill

It does seem to me that this kind of mentality / awareness is a sign of when a buddy pair is working well, and results in the kind of 'proactive' behaviour Janos mentions above.

I don't know how explicit this is made by most training agencies: we are told to be a good buddy, but not always how to be a good buddy in a lot of detail.

[Bob Cooper]

Originally Posted by And

What would you say is 'buddy diving done well'?

Situational awareness...

a term that crops up a great deal and one that really sums up what it's all about. Being aware of what is going on around you and aware of where your buddy/buddies are, what they are doing, how they are feeling, are they stresses, preoccupied, having a bad day etc.

A buddy who is aware of all this, particularly when they are task loaded, is a good buddy. This is "buddy diving done well".

I agree with your interpretation of "team" diving which is only another term for "buddy diving". We are all taught this in our first scuba lessons. Trouble is, many people seem to forget about it as soon as they get a bit of experience.

[Mark Powell]

Good post And.

I think the term buddy is used far to often to describe someone who, in my eyes, is far from a buddy.

Originally Posted by Janos

Other agencies do talk about this (cf the BSAC Incident Pit) but I don't think other agencies put quite the same emphasis on it as GUE do.

The idea of a good buddy is included in the training courses of all the recreational agencies but the emphasis on doing it well is sometimes forgotten. GUE (and in some cases, some of the other technical agencies) do emphasis it more. This means that a DIR diver is often (but not always!) a good buddy but a non-DIR diver can also be a good buddy.

To me a good buddy is someone who;
- has planned to do the same dive as me
- is with me for the whole duration of the dive, including ascent and deco stops
- who accepts that if I abort the dive they abort with me, no questions asked
- is close enough to help in the case of incident
- is aware of where I am at all times
- is never further away than i can swim on one breath
- can tell from body language if there is a problem
- understands all the standard signals I use
- adds or is neutral to my comfort level in the water rather than detracting from it
- has simillar expectations to me as to what we expect from the dive
- carries out the dive in a simillar way to me

[W Wilberforce]

oops, i don't think any of the above qualities applies to me
Particularly the bit about staying with the buddy!

Does any know of any good solo diving courses?
(prefereably not GUE ones- no offence)